Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Populous 1989 - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog

Like Tetris, populous created a genre, is the first game where he was to prevail on a whole new world, to be the god. Followed Populous II and III also Populous, many years later and this time on the PC. A new principle at the time. Needless to say, is a masterpiece of originality. The sound effects are digitized, graphics and animations very fine. Populous this many options, 500 levels, the possibility to play two in connecting two st, could even put the game in demo mode, atari against itself. Argument selling point: nothing on TV, watch your st play only a populous and how and dispose of all worlds! :)

PUBLISHED IN TEST TILT No. 65 (April 1989): Evidence that the game has been refined, if you leave the homepage inactive you will be entitled to this small presentation.

This software is without doubt the strategy game's most original and the most since taking Sentinel. Immerse yourself in a fight without thank you where the gods are fighting for supremacy of the universe. A must!

Imagine for a moment what would be your life if you were God, with the power to do evil and well! Imagine what can feel whoever has the power to shape staggering continents at will, trigger cataclysms whose effects reminiscent of some biblical stories. Euphorisant not? Now let us be even more bold and imagine that you are not the only god in the universe and, of course, you hate your "brothers"! It is well known, there is room for only one Divine Being and you are going to fight to be the One! Name Me! That is the history of this long struggle that Populous recounts. Above all, be aware that this game can be practiced alone (against the computer) or against a human (via modem or by connecting through cable, two computers) . The skull and crossbones means the red leader.

All the worlds in the universe are listed in the "Book of the Worlds" (there are five cents in the preview that we have). The confrontation happens on a world at once. On screen, this translates into a page open in the famous book that reveals all the continents of the world must take place where the divine struggle. The central part of the screen is reserved for the expansion of a specific point (zoom function) in the world, this is where exercised virtually all interactions. The theme of the game, as we see, rejount a topical: the coexistence of religions! On each world, two populations (blue and red), carried out by their leaders, devoted a boundless worship the god of their symbols: a skull and crossbones (people red) and Ankh (people blue). In solitary, you are the god of blue and your leadership and your symbol, are playing key roles as we shall see further. Take a good little desert?

The rules governing Populous are more direct, more radical than those of the real world. To win, we must eliminate the adverse population while developing the power and importance of his own. The correlation between the well-being, the power of your people and your degree of power is very close. Indeed, the god that you are derives its mana (power), a source of power, the adoration that you object. More your population is happy and large, the more it gives you energy. The fact that your mana increase is a determining factor for exercising new powers. In other words, you n'exercerez power if your reserve mana permits.

Take a glance at the screen shots and you will see a kind of barometer located in the upper right corner. It informs you permanently on your energy potential and the powers which you are entitled. The endurance of your people depends on the harsh climate.

These powers have different effects: the creation and modelling of land, triggering earthquakes, creating knights, tidal waves, etc.. The exercise of power each cost of energy, certain actions are more costly than others. Take the example of a vital power and inexpensive: the creation and modelling of land. To ensure the wellbeing of your people (who, in turn, provides you with mana), we must develop the land to encourage housing construction. Create, flatten, raise the land where you want to get flat surfaces. The smallest usable area authorizes the construction of a miserable hut (one case), the largest gives birth to a castle (five cases out of five). Once away from prying eyes, your faithful ... multiply. Then, when a house reaches its full capacity (that is longer or shorter depending on the size of the building), a faithful fate and seeks a flat surface to build a home. The population growth may be rapid if you offer as much space as possible and if your opponent does not use its powers often destruction. In other words, any cataclysm caused the opponent force him to burn his mana to rebuild its camp.